Aaron Hernandez accuser ordered before grand jury

Jul. 5, 2013

Former New England Patriots football player Aaron Hernandez, right, stands with his attorney Michael Fee during a bail hearing in Fall River Superior Court on June 27, 2013, in Fall River, Mass. Hernandez, charged with murdering Odin Lloyd, a 27-year-old semi-pro football player, was denied bail at the hearing. / Ted Fitzgerald/AP

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USA TODAY

HARTFORD, CONN. — A Connecticut man who says he lost an eye after being shot by Aaron Hernandez in February has been ordered to appear before a grand jury in Massachusetts that's investigating the former New England Patriots tight end.

Hernandez is facing a murder charge in Massachusetts in the shooting of his friend Odin Lloyd.

Bradley, 30, filed a civil complaint in a U.S. District Court in South Florida in which he accused Hernandez of shooting him in the face on Feb. 13. Bradley was found alone and bleeding from the face and arm in a Riviera Beach, Fla. industrial park, about an hour north of the strip club where he said he had spent the previous evening with Hernandez and others.

"I think he was left there because they thought he would be dead," attorney David Jaroslawicz told USA TODAY Sports.

Jaroslawicz initially filed the complaint on Bradley's behalf on June 13, four days before the body of Lloyd was discovered in an industrial park less than a mile from Hernandez's home in North Attleborough, Mass. Hernandez pleaded not guilty to the murder and he is being held without bond.

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Police in Boston are investigating whether Hernandez was involved in a double-homicide in July 2012.

"You can't make this stuff up. When I filed this simple lawsuit for Mr. Bradley's injuries, the last thing I expected was they would find a dead body near his house and he'd be under investigation to two other dead bodies," Jaroslawicz said. "That's not what I expected when we filed our simple lawsuit."

According to the civil complaint, in which Bradley is seeking more than $100,000 in damages, Bradley said he was shot while in a vehicle with Hernandez and two other men after leaving a strip club called Tootsies, while en route to Palm Beach. Bradley ended up losing his right eye, has diminished use of his right hand and arm, experiences significant pain and will require further surgeries, he said in the complaint.

Jaroslawicz said Bradley had known Hernandez for several years and had worked for him.

"He thought they were friends," Jaroslawicz said.

Bradley was initially hospitalized in West Palm Beach, Fla., and while there, he offered police only a vague description of his assailants, telling an investigator he only knew he was shot by "black and Hispanic" men, according to a Palm Beach County Sheriff's report obtained by USA TODAY Sports. The officer who interviewed Bradley wrote that when Bradley refused to cooperate further, the case was listed as inactive.

Now Jaroslawicz and the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office are at odds about if and how a criminal case against Hernandez should proceed.

Sheriff's spokeswoman Teri Barbera told USA TODAY Sports that the department will not restart an investigation without cooperation from Bradley, adding that Bradley could call the violent crime division to begin that process.

Jaroslawicz said the fact they have filed a lawsuit against Hernandez in federal court should be enough for the sheriff's office to investigate Hernandez on their own.

"They know who did it. They have a sworn statement filed in federal court that Hernandez shot (Bradley). What more do they need, a picture?" Jaroslawicz said.